The Kofi Thompsons Of Ghanaian Journalism Are Not For Sale At Any Price!

I had an irate phone call yesterday, from a gentleman who had just read an article I had written on Friday 5th June, 2009, about the minister for youth and sports, entitled: “The Alhaji Munkata Saga: A Litmus Test President Mills Must Pass!”

He was disappointed in what he thought was an unhelpful article – from the standpoint of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime. “I thought you were for us, Kofi,” was his petulant complaint to me. Perish the thought.

I am not for any political party – I am an Nkrumaist and a nationalist who wants to see the creation of an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia in our country.

Being an Nkrumaist is a mindset – one that engenders self-belief in an African and one that gives one a vision that makes one seek the creation of a modern, efficiently-run, prosperous, and fair society in Ghana (and the rest of Africa too, if I may be so bold).

It is important for those in the NDC, as well as politicians from all the other political parties in Ghana, who think that journalists should side with their party as a matter of policy, to disabuse their minds of that idea quickly.

The job of patriotic and nationalistic journalists, who see their profession as a noble one, and regard it as a vocation, rather than a means to the acquisition of wealth (through the sale of one’s conscience to the highest bidder), is to protect Ghana’s national interest – which at any given point in time, is the maintenance of a free and open society, in which those who lead the Ghanaian nation-state pursue policies that are always in the best interest of society: and ensure the well-being of the ordinary people of our country, in whom sovereignty ultimately lies.

The discerning Ghanaians, the so-called “floating voters” whose crucial votes contributed to the election of the NDC to power in December 2008, did so because they were fed up with the incompetence and greed of the few powerful individuals, who had such an iron-grip on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) regime, that they were able to pursue self-serving policies that benefited them and their favourites personally – but which were inimical to the long-term interests of our country.

Symbolic of the greed and self-seeking nature of some of the most powerful politicians in that era, was the railroading through parliament, of a sale and purchase agreement for VALCO to a non-existent entity, known grandly as International Aluminum Partners.

The crooks in the previous regime who dreamt up that fraud, thought they could inveigle two ethically-run international metals conglomerates, Norske Hydro and VALE, whose businesses are clearly underpinned by corporate good governance principles, to go along with their clever little scheme to add another valuable national asset, to their well-diversified personal investment portfolios, in yet another self-serving privatization deal.

However, both multinationals vehemently denied ever agreeing to purchase VALCO. Clearly, the indecent haste to get parliament to sanction that fraudulent sale and purchase agreement, was simply to present Norske Hydro and VALE with a “done-deal” (to use local parlance) – a fait accompli that would put any fears they had aside: and encourage them to agree to buy VALCO more or less on their own terms: and help the politicians behind the deal to send their personal net worth a tad higher up the stratosphere.

It was the same modus operandi that made the powerful crooks in the previous regime, throw in the national fibre optic backbone-infrastructure, as a “sweetener” for Vodafone, in that shabby Ghana Telecom privatization – an egregious example of a self-serving privatization deal for the politicians who drove it, and who had the audacity to go as far as getting parliament to pass a law indemnifying all the deal-makers on both sides, from any future prosecution for issues arising from that particular privatization.

Yet, that was clearly against the constitutional edict that enjoins all Ghanaians to fight corruption – and consequently an illegality that has no basis in law and cannot be de jure under any circumstances.

To patriotic Ghanaian journalists, politicians who were so shortsighted that in the 21st century ICT age could even think of selling a vital ICT platform such as Ghana Telecom, for short-term financial gain, simply did not deserve to be returned to power.

No one who is a visionary today, can fail to grasp the fact that this is an age, when it is feasible for far-sighted national governments to envision a time, in the not too distant future, when nations will consider it cost-effective to put free computers (akin to GPRS mobile phone handsets!) into the hands of all their adult citizens, as mobile “citizen data-banks” and “e-governance modems” that will make it possible not only for the nation-state to locate each citizen at any given moment (a boon for the personal security of citizens; for crime-fighting; and for the tax-collection agencies!), but also enable various agencies of state to have all manner of positive interactions with the citizenry, for their mutual benefit.

Selling Ghana Telecom simply to provide funds to help tide their regime over temporarily for a short period was foolish in the extreme – and as far as I was concerned, politicians who so clearly lacked vision to that extent, did not deserve to lead out country.

It was on that basis that the Kofi Thompsons of Ghanaian journalism were so critical of the previous regime and rooted for Professor Mills, during the campaign for the December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections. Consequently, let no one in the NDC think that I am on their side – for, I am an independent-minded fellow who is on the side of truth, my country, and its entire people: and for whatever brings about a prosperous, free, and egalitarian society, in our homeland Ghana.

My conscience is not for sale at any price to anyone – and I will criticize the Mills administration if it is in the national interest to do so whenever the need to do so arises: just as I did the Kufuor administration before it.

I detest former president Kufour with a passion, for example, not for personal reasons, but for the era of “dog-eat-dog” selfishness; unfathomable greed; nepotism; and blatant tribalism, which he ushered in during his tenure.

It is with the same passion that I equally detest the miasma that former President Rawlings’ hold on so many Ghanaians represents.

The simple and painful truth, for many Nkrumaists, is that it is only the “colonial-mentality” of many of Rawlings’ followers, which makes them literally worship a man, whom they would never dream of hero-worshiping (some for twenty odd years), if he had been a black man, rather than a half-caste, who incredibly thinks democracy is not suitable for Africans.

How can anyone with even a drop of African blood in him or her, and who respects Africans, not understand that the yearning for freedom, beats no less strongly in the hearts of Africans, than it does in the hearts of people of other races, I ask?

Democracy may be an unsatisfactory system of government, but it is the best system of government known to humankind, for those who understand that it is only in free and open societies, in which there is competition of ideas, that the best ideas come to the fore to move such societies forward.

That is why the most innovative societies in the world happen to be the Western democracies – which happen to be the freest societies on the planet Earth. Human beings are not angels – and a system of government that has checks and balances designed to prevent dictatorship and in which regular elections are held, to choose who leads the nation, should never be said to be unsuitable for Africans in the 21st century ICT age.

(Incidentally, it is the selfsame “slave-mentality” that enables Rawlings to mesmerize the myrmidon-type of Ghanaian today, which enabled Europeans to occupy our country and colonize it in the past – and sadly continues to make many Ghanaians tolerate the divisive and superstition-ridden institution of Chieftaincy: that bastion of backwardness, which masquerades as the custodian of our culture, but holds our country back so much because it is based on inherited privilege, which is the greatest enemy of any meritocracy. It is the self-seeking and opaque nature of that institution that made Chiefs and their lackeys collaborate so willingly with the Europeans who colonized our country. But I digress.)

The NDC must work towards bringing about the better Ghana they promised Ghanaians – and do so as quickly as they possibly can: and stop complaining to journalists who speak their minds openly. The Kofi Thompsons of Ghanaian journalism will continue to maintain their independence and continue to act as society’s watchdogs – not mercenary regime guard-dogs: so let politicians across the spectrum beware.

As it happens, I am a nobody who comes from a simple, humble, and honest family, which, like many ordinary middle class Ghanaian families, though cash-poor, is asset-rich (and I say this humbly, not boastfully – simply to drive home the point that money does not mean anything to me).

I am a writer who wants to be on the right side of history, and hopes that his name will live on till the very end of time, through my writing – not a philistine driven by greed who wants to be rich at all costs: and thinks that the end justifies the means (because he can’t see beyond his flat nose and thick lips) and is therefore willing to pocket zillions secretly from corrupt politicians and stay “on-side” with them.

So let those politicians who think that every Ghanaian has a price and can be bought, beware. Kofi Thompson’s conscience is not for sale at any price to anyone. Period.